Games the Kids Play (and you should too!)

“Mom, will you play ____ with me?”  “Mama, let’s play _____”.  “Mama, how about we play _____”.  No matter how they phrase it, the kids always want to play with you.

How many times do you say, “Sure, I’d love to!”…

Answer honestly.

In my life, I try so set apart about 20-30 minutes a day to actually play and be present with my kids.  Let’s be clear that this is not nearly as much time as they would like, but I make an effort to put my phone down and stop the household chores and be with them.  It’s not perfect, but in my opinion it shouldn’t be.  Kids need to be bored and find ways to occupy themselves, but that is fodder for another post.

Today I want to tell you about two games that I always say YES to, and why.

My Stella loves to play “school” or “lessons”.  Sometimes she is teaching her younger brother.  Sometimes she asks to teach me, and I always say yes because this is where the learning can happen for HER.  Maybe you’ve heard the quote:

“What I hear, I forget; What I see, I remember; What I do, I understand.” (Chinese proverb)

It is so important for children to take what they have been taught and spin it around in their brains and retell it in a way that makes sense to them.  Having your kids “teach” you their lessons from school (or homeschool) is one way to help solidify the knowledge they have gained!  Sometimes she teaches me her weekly spelling words, other times she makes me math pages that demonstrate the skills she is learning at school.  Lately it has been retelling the non-fiction stories in which she has been so interested.

It is also a wonderful time to sit and just listen to your child.  I’ve found that as Stella grows into her own person this is one time that I can really observe the individual she is becoming.  Her mannerisms and language are so telling of the unique person she is and I really cherish having those moments to savor.  

She loves to be the “expert”, which also gives her (and ALL children) a sense of control over her life.  And that alone is super empowering!  So I say whenever your kids want to teach you something, have a seat and learn.

Now my little guy is quite a different child from his sister and is much more physical.  He recently “made up” a game with dice that we have been playing for weeks.  I love it for it’s simplicity and how easy it is to modify for different levels of learning.  We started with 3 dice.  The object of the game is to be the first person to get all of your dice to show the same number (it is very similar to the game Tenzi).  Are you ready for how much learning takes place with this simple game?  
Here you go: